Ireland is in a “very delicate position” in the fight against COVID-19, according to the Government.
The warning comes days after officials decided to push Phase Four of reopening back for another three weeks.
Some 361 new confirmed cases have been reported in Ireland over the past 7 days.
Trajectory shift
Speaking this morning, Government official Liz Canavan said the decision not to pause the reopening roadmap was justified.
“We knew that there would be likely some increase in the figures; however, in the last week or so, things have shifted away from the trajectory we were on,” she said.
“We have had more cases every day and more cases nationally overall; we have increasing numbers of cases in the vulnerable, we have outbreaks in a number of workplace settings; more young people are getting the disease and there has been a shift in the location of the majority of cases from Dublin to other counties.”
"Very delicate position"
Nearly 24,000 COVID-19 tests have been carried out in the last week, with 1.4% coming back positive – up from 0.2% two weeks ago.
Meanwhile there are currently 10 COVID patients in Irish hospitals and five in intensive care.
Dublin has accounted more than half the country’s COVID-19 cases since the outbreak began; however, in recent days the number of new cases has often been higher in other countries.
Ms Canavan said the public must remain vigilant if we are to continue to suppress the virus.
“Now is just not the time to relax our efforts,” she said.
“Now is the time to hold firm. The most important thing we can do at this time is to continue to defend ourselves, our loved ones and our communities as best we can against COVID-19.
“We are at a very delicate position in terms of the virus and our progress continues to depend on our collective individual actions.”
Phase Four
She said the Government is aware of the disappointment at the decisions to suspend Phase Four – but insisted officials “signalled at every stage we would have to see how the disease was behaving as we continued to introduce additional risks associated with reopening.”
“We need to do our very best to ensure our children and young people can return to school in September following months without vital hands-on learning stability and socialisation that only the school environment can offer,” she said.
“Please bear with us. We are at a critical stage and what you do is as important as ever. No one part of the system can manage this disease on its own.”
